Tag Archives: Toddler

It’s still so very strange to have a piece of my heart running around independently of me. You are can be so many different things all at once – precious, annoying, shy, loud, quiet, sad, happy, fierce, silly, sombre.

I had no idea what I was getting into when I decided it was a good idea to try and have a child and it has been so much harder than I thought it would be. But it’s also been, by far, one of the most rewarding things I’ve done. You’re an ace little kid.

Don’t let the world change or extinguish the brilliant spark that’s inside you.

When did that happen? How do we have a 21 month old? It feels like it was only yesterday I was being walked into an operating theatre, enormously pregnant and about to have a c-section. Suffice to say, life has been quite different since that moment 21 months ago.

Juno is almost running (eep!), getting into everything, loves books and is generally an ace little kid. I am eternally grateful that somehow I ended up with the world’s most laid-back child who sleeps through the night. Of course she has her infuriating moments – she’s a toddler – but on the whole, we totally lucked out.

She returned to childcare last week after a three week break over xmas. She’s now in the toddler room on Tuesdays/Wednesdays/Thursdays. On the whole, the change has been okay. She’s a little unsure when we first arrive in the morning but that seems to wear off pretty quickly – usually as soon as she sees something to play with. We’ve had to nearly double the amount of clothing she has for childcare though. I thought three outfit changes would be enough. Uh, no. When I went to pick her up at the end of her first day back, she was in the room’s spare dress! She went through every item of clothing in her bag. The next day was a similar story with nothing left in her bag but she was still in her own clothes. She is yet to come home in the clothes that she left the house and I don’t think she ever will.

There still hasn’t been much development in her speech. She has more words but seems to have difficulty pronouncing the first letter of words with two or more syllables. Book is ook, duck is uck, woof is oof but she says yes, no, uh oh, oh no very clearly. The odd thing is that that says words – or rather makes sounds – in her babbling that have two or more syllable just fine. The dropped first letter only seems to occur when she’s consciously trying to say something.

Her hearing test in December showed that she is suffering from mild hearing loss that would be affecting her speech. But it’s caused by ear glue and not damage to her ear drums. We have a follow-up hearing test in a week so we’ll see what that shows. If the ear glue hasn’t cleared up, she may need grommits which means going to a Ear, Nose, Throat specialist. If it has cleared, I’m guessing we’ll be off to a speech pathologist.

It’s been a wild ride. Everyone talks about how hard it is when you have a newborn but I’ve decided that’s a crock. It’s hard regardless, it’s just different. Every stage in development has its challenges and just when you think you’ve got it under control, something new pops up.

Juno is curious, bright-eyed and loves getting into everything. She’s definitely mastered walking and has recently starting climbing the stairs on her own (which is nice because she’s getting heavy!). She’s also very into books at the moment and loves being read to. Which makes me a little proud – another book worm in the family 🙂 The only problem is that she also loves turning the pages and often won’t wait for the person reading.

We only have two clear words – no and up – which is a slight concern. So the next logical step is for Juno to have a hearing test. She talks all the time but it’s all babbling (which does sound quite lovely because it’s very musical). Not panicking, just wanting to find out if anything is up. I figure the earlier an issue is discovered, the better the chances are of it being fixable. However, she communicates very clearly – especially when she says no and pushes whatever she doesn’t want away with her hand. I guess I would be a good deal more concerned if there was no non-verbal communication.

So… at 18 months, Juno:
* weighs – 12.25kg
* height is – 81.5cm
* head circumference is – 50.5cm
* currently sporting a black eye from banging her head on a shelf.

She’s gained two kilos in six months, grown 6cm and her head is so far off the chart it’s ridiculous. One day she’ll grow into her head. LOL